The Honeyglow of Heroes
by Arcade Lackey
Summary: A sequel of 'A Sudden Surge'. Follow the continuing adventures of Felix, Calhoun, and all their friends as they make their way through the ups and downs of life. As is often the case with love, there's drama.. Which is to be expected when you cross fire with dynamite. Reader discretion is advised: It's fluffy. Third pairing listed inside.
1. Heroes and Cuties

**Author's Note:** This story is one of two genre-shifted sequels of my first story, 'A Sudden Surge'. It's mostly 'slice of life' romance fluff, though it has been likened to a soap opera (in a good way) by two separate reviewers of 'The Honeyglow Surge'. The other co-sequel is 'The Honeyglow Surge', which this story was originally, and for now still also is, part of. It will be removed from that story in its entirety when I'm done revising it. Until then I'll be putting the revised scenes here as if they were never part of 'The Honeyglow Surge' to begin with as I finish each separate chapter.

When reading, keep in mind that the two stories will sometimes share scenes with each other even after they are fully split so that there aren't any chunks missing from either (they're friends, after all). Also keep in mind that the two stories won't match up 100% until I'm done revising both stories.

**The pairings:** Felix/Calhoun, Markowski/Candlehead (later on otherwise known as Leon/Minty (not Minty Zaki)), and Spears (later on aka Garret)/Jubileena. Being from Sugar Rush 2, Candlehead and Jubileena are both 10 years older than their Sugar Rush counterparts. This puts them at 19 years old.

**Eventually**, each of these pairings will get married. Felix and Calhoun are already married though, of course. They're just sort of along for the ride.

* * *

"Did you _see_ Litwak's face when he saw the highscores were still up?!" Ralph said with an excited laugh. _His face was priceless. _They were in their game, Fix-It Felix Jr.

"Jiminy jaminy, it was priceless!" Felix said before joining in on the laughter, "The poor man almost had a heart attack!" _I'm glad he didn't though! That would have been bad.._

"Ah man.." Ralph said before taking a deep breath, "It's nice to see the old man still cares. It's been a long time since he played our game.."

"Yeah.. It happens to the best of us.." Felix said with a sigh, "So.. You and **Vannie**, huh?" He made that same cheesy grin he loved so much. _You're gonna have to tell me all about her eventually, brother._

"Yeah.." Ralph said as he leaned against the front wall of the apartment building, "It's almost like a dream.. I was such an idiot for a while there, not seeing what's important."

"Sounds like you've got a story there, brother," Felix said with a curious grin as he too leaned against the wall, "Care to tell me about it?" _This is the part I've been wanting to hear!_

"Ahh, it's not really worth telling.." Ralph said dismissively, "I was just having a hard time seeing the two of them as separate people at first.." _Well obviously I knew they weren't the __**same**__ person.. I just couldn't date Vannie and still look Vanellope in the eye. It would have been too weird, at least that's what I thought at the time._

"Well that's somewhat understandable, Ralph," Felix said, "I mean, they are **really** similar. Vannie was based off of the original, after all." _I can't say that I would have had that problem. They may look alike, but they're not the _**_same_**_ person._

"I still have to apologize to her about that," Ralph said as he looked out past the game screen in the sky, not really seeing much from that angle, "I owe her a lunch as well." He chuckled warmly. "On **that** note, I gotta go.." He made his way toward the railway leading out of Fix-It Felix Jr.

"What about the party, Ralph?" Felix asked hopefully, "It starts in about an hour, you know?"

"Sorry Felix," Ralph said, "You understand, right? Just save me a slice, will ya?"

"Sure thing, brother," Felix said under his breath disappointedly as he watched his best friend leave to see his girlfriend. He perked up quickly however. "Oh! I wonder what Tammy is up to about now.." He grinned and held onto his hat as he skipped off behind Ralph, headed towards Hero's Duty. _There's plenty time for the party later. Here I come, Tammy!_

* * *

All was going well in Hero's Duty. Well, about as well as you can expect from a game about climbing a building and destroying nearly endless hordes of mechanical bugs. The regular players who went to the arcade specifically to play Hero's Duty definitely noticed a difference. It was a welcome change for them, that Markowski was no longer as much of a screaming idiot. They could finally make it to the top of the building with him. They had wondered if maybe the game had an upgrade.

"Nice going out there Markowski," Spears said as he punched Markowski's shoulder in jest. As a soldier, Spears was naturally physically fit, and he had a blond crew cut. _I hope he's not still mad about how we treated him.. _Technically it was **Set **controlling him at the time_,_ but he understood all too well that he would have done the same exact thing anyway without knowing the circumstances. Something else that bothered him was how Set was able to wear his armor after being split off like a code tumor, since he was rather lanky and especially **short **in comparison.

"It's nice to be back in top form after all that time.." Markowski said in a satisfied tone, "So uh.. You want to head over to Sugar Rush 2 by any chance? Tapper's is **great** and all, but uh.. You know what I mean.." He scratched the back of his shaven head and let out a bit of a chuckle. _I'd really like to see her again.. I'm pretty he's got the same thing in mind._

"Now **that** sounds like a plan," Spears said with an especially wry grin, "I don't think **Jubileena** likes you too much though." He chuckled slightly and shook his head. _Well he's probably not interested in Jubileena anyway._

Markowski shrugged. _It's my fault for not asking their names when we first met.. I'm sure he knows I'm more interested in 'Candlehead' regardless. I wish they would use her name more often.. Minty is such a beautiful name._

"Heya fellas!" Felix said cheerfully as he hopped in. The hopping sounds gave him away instantly. The soldiers were completely used to Felix coming in by now.

"Felix," Markowski nodded.

"Hey Felix!" Spears said, "Sarge is just over there at the tower, can't miss her." _Every day, without fail. _How Felix kept up with Calhoun was beyond him.

"Why, thank you," Felix said cheerfully, "So I take it everything is going well on your end?"

"Affirmative," Markowski said, "Couldn't be better." _Well, maybe it __**could**__ be a bit better.._

"Well, I hate to run," Felix said cheerfully as he ever so slightly inched away from the two, "but I don't want to keep Tammy waiting." He sheepishly pointed behind him with his thumb towards his destination.

"No worries, Felix," Spears said with a dismissive hand wave, "Markowski and I here were just about to head out." _I wonder how I should ask her out. I guess our intention of dating them will be sort of obvious, so.. Hm.. I'll think about it on the way there, I guess._

* * *

Markowski and Spears left Hero's Duty and took the train to Sugar Rush 2. Before, it was a short kart ride to get inside, but due to a complaint from Marco, another soldier from Hero's Duty, it was remodeled into a train made of various types of candy, predominantly jawbreakers. How Marco flipped over his kart to begin with was beyond them.

They got there as the Random Roster Race was halfway over. It was too late to find seats in the stands, it would seem, not that they had a great deal of interest in the race itself. They simply stood far enough out of the way while still getting a good view of the jumbotron, and before long the race had ended.

"That Jet guy got third place," Spears said in an oddly indifferent tone, "Well, I'll give it to him, he knows how to race.." _**Why**__ am I not still mad at this guy?_ He shook his head, at the thought. It's not like it really mattered to him in the end, he supposed. After all, it was Calhoun's decision to let him live a normal life, and she had to know what she was doing. _At least he's keeping his neck out of trouble, by the looks of it._ Not to mention Jet was no longer able to hijack games even if he wanted to.

"**Had** to be luck though," Markowski said as he shook his head, "Those power-up things are a real game changer." He was a little more interested in the race than Spears was, but he was mostly focused on Candlehead. _Minty almost won. She __**would**__ have, if not for that power-up in the last few seconds. Fourth place is still good though_.

As the last of the racers finished, Markowski and Spears headed over to talk to Candlehead and Jubileena. They walked, as they didn't want to seem desperately eager to do so.

* * *

Back in Hero's Duty.

"Hey short stack," Calhoun said wryly as she holstered her Multi-Mode Rifle on her back, "Glad you could make it. Figured you would be getting ready for a party about now." Just behind her was the 99 level tower which housed the all-powerful beacon, as well as the much-desired Medal of Heroes.

"Shucks, I lost track of how many parties we've had," Felix said dismissively and smiled, "It's always the same thing, really. Pac-Man eats all the food, Ralph comes grab a slice of cake that was saved for him and chats for a while, and Mario comes along fashionably late just as it's time for everybody to leave.."

"Sounds like fun to me," Calhoun teased, "So what would you prefer instead?"

"Well golly, I don't know!" Felix said cheerfully as he placed his hand on his chin in thought, with his other hand gently resting on his tool belt, "That's why I'm here, I guess. When I'm with you **everything's** a blast. Sometimes literally!" He laughed sheepishly, which in turn made Calhoun laugh.

"Well I'm happy you feel that way," Calhoun said as she bent down to kiss him. _I feel the same way._ It was that adorable charm of his that **really** charged her batteries.

"Heh heh.. Oh! That reminds me I was going to tell you about that weird dream I had when we were back in the code room!" _It's weird how I seem to remember it as if it really happened._

"Yes, you **did** say something about that, didn't you.." Calhoun said as she leaned against part of the bridge leading to the tower.

"Right! It was when you did that thing with my memory files and I passed out," Felix recalled, waving his hands around as he spoke, "It was like I had woken up back on the night of Fix-It Felix Jr.'s 30th anniversary.. Ralph and I were standing outside the penthouse, in the hallway, when he came to get in on the party that the others hadn't invited him to. I think I still owe Ralph an apology for that and other things.." _I'm glad Ralph forgave us all the same.._

"Oh yeah?" Calhoun said, mostly to acknowledge she was listening.

Felix nodded guiltily. "But instead of going down the way it **really** had, he got so **cross**," Felix said with a hint of sadness in his voice as he continued, "Well he did get rather cross that day, but it was later, when Gene was antagonizing him.. It was around that time when I knew I was dreaming. It was crazy, it was like I was trapped, being pushed around with events moving in fast forward. I don't quite remember what Ralph said, but he indicated that him lashing out about not being invited to the party was what should have happened. Not that I would have especially blamed him now that I think about it."

"So where exactly do I fit in with all that?" Calhoun teased.

"Right, well he picked me up by the back of my shirt and dropped me right back down and we were all suddenly here in Hero's Duty.." Felix said as he gestured around and scratched his head under his hat, "He said I'm all yours and walked off holding a baby Cy-bug in his hands and disappeared out the exit. You complimented my 'tiddlywinking' and we followed him to Sugar Rush on your cruiser.." he chuckled, "You pushed me off into Nesquik Sand and jumped down yourself, and I thought for sure you'd give me a few good wallops. But you kissed me instead saying it was good enough that I remembered what really happened." _That was the best part._

"Aww, that's sweet," Calhoun said as she broke out into a laugh, which made Felix laugh a bit well. _I still feel bad about hitting him back then.._

"And then I fell through the Nesquik Sand into the Fungeon where Ralph came along and I fixed Vanellope's kart," Felix said, "I don't quite remember what happened after that, but it wasn't long before I woke up. It was the most vivid dream I ever had if I say so myself." _Thinking of Sugar Rush sure is getting me hungry.._

"It sounds like quite the ride," Calhoun laughed.

"Now that I think about it.." Felix said, "Would you like to go eat out somewhere? It wouldn't be the end of the world if I missed **one** party."

"Well I think I can work that in," Calhoun said in a tone that would imply she had other things planned, which she obviously didn't, judging from her smile, "Let me guess, Sugar Rush 2?" _It's the only option he's considering. Has to be.._

"Sometimes I think you know me **too** well," Felix beamed. Ever since he went to Sugar Rush for the first time, he had been addicted to sweets. Mary's pies and cakes were **good**, but after eating them daily for 30 and a half years, he was more or less sick of them. Rather than being sick though, it was more like boredom, despite the programmed rush he received after eating them. Sugar Rush, on the other hand, was an entire world full of all sorts of candy he had never even heard of before.. and Sugar Rush 2 had even more variety than the original.

"Alright, we may as well," Calhoun teased as she stole his hat for a while.. just until they got to the gateway in Game Central Station. _It's not like I don't like sweets.. _Not that she would admit that out loud. _But there'd better be at least _**_some_**_ normal food there as well.._

* * *

Back in Sugar Rush 2.

"So what brings you two here again?" Jubileena asked with a smirk, her arms lightly crossed, "Not another **bad guy** I hope.." They were still at the finish line of the race, while the others had quickly taken off to do their own things. _I knew this was going to happen.. Or hoped.  
_

"We came to talk to our friends, that's all," Spears beamed. _We all know why we're here, right?_

"Yeah, nothing going on at all. So we figured we could hang out or something," Markowski beamed.

"Well, what do **you** say, Candlehead?" Jubileena asked. _Alright, I may as well see where this takes us.. It should be fine. I would **really** rather not go out with Markowski though. Maybe I am a little too mean to him.. He's probably just an airhead. Candlehead would get along well with him._

"That sounds **great**!" Candlehead said cheerfully, "I take it you were watching the race?" _I was hoping I'd get to see Leon again._

"Yeah, you would've won if Vanellope hadn't used that Sweet Seeker power-up thing," Markowski said confidently. He wasn't 'in the know' about her nickname being Vannie, he was just going by the name on the roster.

"I know, right!" Candlehead said excitedly before clenching her fist in front of her chest, "I'll get her eventually though. She's a tough one.. I'm surprised King Candy did so badly today." _Him and Vannie are pretty much the two best racers in the game besides Jujube, Taffyta and I.._

"So did you have anything in particular in mind?" Jubileena asked.

"Well **we've** been pretty much everywhere by now," Spears said, "We were thinking of showing you around, wherever **you** wanna go." _We usually just end up in Tapper's. Can't really bring her there though, right?_

"Oh, can we go check out the **other** Sugar Rush?!" Candlehead asked excitedly. _I want to see little Jujube and I. Oh, and the others too! They must be so __**adorable**__._ Her face burned red after everyone suddenly stared at her. "No?" _I thought it was a good idea.._

"Sounds interesting," Jubileena said as she patted Candlehead on the shoulder, "What do you two think?" _Of course they're going to agree. Just look at the glint in their eyes._

"You won't get any complaints out of me," Markowski said with a smile as he shrugged his shoulders, trying to act nonchalant. _That's one of the best options, isn't it?_

"Sounds to me like it's settled then," Spears said. _It could be pretty interesting to see how they interact with their kid selves.. It'll be cute, right? It'd __**have**__ to be cute.._

While talking about the race they went on their way to Sugar Rush.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This was originally in chapters 2 and 3 of 'The Honeyglow Surge'.


	2. Scavenger Hunt for Racers

"This place aged well for being 15 years old," Jubileena said as they got inside Sugar Rush. It definitely wasn't as crisp as Sugar Rush 2, but it didn't look bad by any means.

"Now let's find us some racers!" Candlehead said cheerfully. _It's like a scavenger hunt, but for racers!_

Markowski tried to hide his smile by forcing the corners of his mouth straight, but you can imagine how awkward that actually looked. _It should be illegal to be that adorable, right?_

"I wonder if they had their race already," Spears said, "Might be a good place to start."

"Hmm, could be.." Markowski said. _What's that cold chill?_

"Hello!" Vanellope said as she snuck up behind them, "What brings you guys here?" _Well I _**was**_ going to go find Ralph.. King Candy may have his announcer and racer job back, but as Sugar Rush's president I can't very well ignore __**visitors**__._

"Racer spotted!" Candlehead beamed excitedly and impulsively picked Vanellope up. Candlehead, as many who knew her well could attest, had a habit of picking up or hugging things she found cute. It was a huge shock to her system when she learned she was holding a Cy-bug egg just the day before. _So adorable! So this is little Vannie.._

"So you must be Candlehead," Vanellope chuckled, "And **you** must be Jubileena." She turned her head to look at Jubileena while resting her elbow on Candlehead's arm and resting her cheek atop her lightly balled fist.

"And I'm Spears, and this is Markowski," Spears said. _Isn't this the girl who was the maid of honor at Sarge's wedding?_

"Evening," Markowski said while briefly raising his hand to give a lazy man's wave. _That's gotta be the same girl. Come to think of it the older one was also the one who beat Minty in her race.._

"We were wondering where we could find little me and Candlehead," Jubileena said. _And probably everyone else, knowing Candlehead.._

"Hm.. Well, if it's Candlehead, she's probably with Taffyta and Rancis," Vanellope said as she patiently allowed herself to be held. _She can let me go any time now though.. _"Those three are always together. I'm not sure where little **you** would be.."

"That's odd, Jujube and I are almost always together in our game.." Candlehead said while lightly furrowing her brow. _Oops. She doesn't like to be called that unless we're alone.. _She lightly cringed at Jubileena as if to apologize.

"Things must've changed between games," Vanellope shrugged, "You might want to check around either the Junkyard or in town." _Doesn't Jubileena usually keep to herself when we're not racing? Jujube though? _She chuckled to herself._ That's kind of fitting._

* * *

In Sugar Rush 2 around that time.

"Excuse me," Calhoun called out to Rancis and Taffyta as she noticed them driving in their kart. She turned her cruiser around and cruised alongside them, "Would you happen to know where we can find a place to eat here?" _For all I know the layout changed between games. I don't need to go gallivanting around aimlessly._

"Oh, we know just the place," Taffyta said through a cheeky grin, "We were headed there ourselves, just follow us." _Is she from Hero's Duty like Kohut and Loya? The armor looks the same.._

"Why, thank you, friend," Felix said cheerfully as he tipped his hat. _It's certainly amusing to see these racers grown up and goin' on dates.._

* * *

A few minutes later, once they had finally arrived at their destination.

"Oh hey Crumbelina.." Taffyta said sweetly as she and Rancis made their presences known at the table Jet and Crumbelina were seated at, "So you must be Jet, the new guy. I'm Taffyta."_ Play it off cool, he might act like a normal person since he's new here. I don't need to make any enemies.._

"I'm Rancis. Nice to meet you," Rancis said with a nervous smile. _Normal enough so far. Uh-oh.. Don't do it Taffyta.. Why didn't I think of that before?! This is bad.._

"Ah, hey.. Sorry about the whole.. You know.." Jet said nervously. _We all know what I'm talking about, right? Do I have to say it?_

"Well, don't worry too much about it," Taffyta said softly with a hint of nervousness, "Nice racing earlier." _How'd he manage to get third place though? _She could feel annoyance ever so slightly bubbling to the surface._ No.. It was luck. It was luck. Don't get mad about it.. _She fought the urge to sigh and just continued to smile awkwardly. Let's be honest, with what Jet has done in the past, anybody would be scared witless.

"Thanks.." Jet said with a nervous smile. _They're being.. nice. Do I really have to worry about getting on her bad side? Not like I __**want**__ to.._

"Keeping your nose clean, I take it?" Calhoun asked in a slightly more authoritative tone than usual as she and Felix got off her cruiser. She had been watching from afar just to gauge the mood until then. _He's getting quite popular.. They should know what he did already, right? I wonder what's up.._

"Yes ma'am," Jet said carefully. Calhoun was one of the people he wanted to be around least, for obvious reasons. _She must be here to keep an eye on me.. Don't worry ma'am, I'm going to be a good boy. Not that it makes up for what I've done.._

"Good," Calhoun said dryly as she sat at a nearby table, though it was still somewhat far away. _Almost looks like he was on a date until those two showed up.. _She tiredly glanced over at Felix, who was loitering at Jet's table. _What is he doing still over there?_

"Well that looks nice," Felix said cheerfully, "What is that one called?" _I haven't had pizza since that one time in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, come to think of it._

"Pizza siciliana," Jet said with a grin, "You should try it." _I wonder if I should tell him it has anchovies on it.. Well a harmless prank should be okay, right? I hope Calhoun doesn't get mad at me for this.. Crap. It's too late to take it back. _He lightly winced in regret, though Felix didn't notice.

"You **coming**?" Calhoun called out. _Are we here to eat or not?_

"Right away!" Felix chuckled as he quickly made his way to the table Calhoun was sitting at. _Pizza siciliana, hmm? Well maybe a couple of slices would be alright.. I sure got the envie for it now._

* * *

A few minutes later.. Rancis and Taffyta were both now seated at Jet and Crumbelina's table, talking amongst themselves. Felix and Calhoun were a bit preoccupied though, so they didn't really pay it much mind.

"**Oh**! There's anchovies," Felix said in a loud and surprised tone. _Gross.. _He began picking them off.

"Quit picking them off," Calhoun said firmly, "You **ordered **them, now **eat **them.. That's an order." _Why did he order it in the first place? _She sighed. "Here, let's do **this**.." She grabbed one of his slices of pizza and slapped some of her spaghetti onto his plate. "No more complaints." _It's just some oily fish. What's the big deal?_

Felix was grateful to have been rid of half of his mistake, and the two ate quietly while trying not to make it too obvious that they had begun to eavesdrop on the conversation at Jet's table. They regretted not paying more attention in the first place as they did so as well.

"You don't really mean that, do you?" Jet asked reluctantly while staring at the middle of the table, though he was almost stating it as fact. His heart ached, because deep down, he wanted, almost **needed **this.. but he was too afraid of potential negative outcomes to allow himself that luxury. _How can Crumbelina possibly even want to go out with me in the first place? Especially after everything I've done.. _He had even told her that the only reason he wasn't taking over games anymore is because he was satisfied, and didn't even know how to do it anymore. It wasn't 100% true, of course, but for all **she **knew, it **was**._ I'm a **bad** guy. It's a miracle alone that she's associating with me at all.._

"Hey, come on.." Crumbelina said softly as she nervously put her hand on his wrist. _That really hurts.. but I guess I can't blame him for reacting like that. I don't really even feel **strongly** one way or another, but he's cute, and there's just something else.. _She didn't know what she was getting herself into, in all honesty. Even then she felt rather foolish about it. Rather than thinking rationally, it was more like she was just reading his overall mood and felt as though it might work out somehow. She was winging it.

"Did I.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything," Taffyta said nervously as she started getting up, "Come on Rancis, I think we should probably sit at a different table." _Why did I say that anyway?_ _There's a difference between giving someone a chance and playing matchmaker for them._ _Especially_ _considering the kind of person Jet is. Or was.. Just what in the world am I thinking?_

"It's fine, Taffyta, you don't have to get up," Crumbelina said seriously as she shook her head, "I'm going to bring Jet inside so we can talk this out." She stood up, her face burning red from embarrassment. They hadn't even eaten much of what they ordered. "Come on Jet."

Jet reluctantly stood up and followed her inside the cafe_,_ his heart pounding and full of dread, and other various emotions he'd rather not be dealing with._  
_

* * *

"See? It wasn't so bad, was it?" Calhoun asked dryly as they finally finished eating. _It's killing me, not knowing what's going on in there.._ She glanced at the cafe without turning her head, then back at Felix. _Oh well._

"I'm **not** ordering it again," Felix said confidently with his arms crossed. _Anchovies, yuck!_

"Good," Calhoun said firmly before smiling, "You're pickier than a cactus when it comes to normal food." _He's adorable when he's like this.._

"Well it just looked so **good** at first," Felix said as a subtle smile broke through his pouting. _I would have never ordered it if 'anchovy' was in the name._

"Can we get you anything else?" a waitress asked them as she collected their plates.

"I would like a lemon tart," Felix beamed, "Oh, and some coffee with lots of cream and sugar." _What could possibly go wrong? I've had lemon pies before, so it shouldn't be much different._

"I'll just have some coffee, thanks," Calhoun said, "No sugar or anything."

"Alright, I'll be back in a moment," the waitress said while stifling a giggle before walking back inside._ Maybe we should put a warning that there's anchovies on that pizza._

* * *

Back in Sugar Rush.

"There she is!" Candlehead yelled happily as she pointed out little Jubileena in the Junkyard of Sugar Rush. They were just at the Junkyard's border, with little Jubileena being closer to its center. They walked the whole way there, because they simply didn't have enough kart space.

Vanellope had glitched out of her grasp after a while of patiently letting herself be held._ What is it with my friends from Sugar Rush 2 always wanting to hug and hold me? Is that just a downside to being an adorable winner?_

"Candlehead?" little Jubileena asked as she turned around. She jolted slightly upon seeing Candlehead being so.. tall. "Oh, you must be from our sequel." _We grew up well in our sequel, I see.._ She had been tuning up her kart and was enjoying the solitude of the Junkyard until they showed up. She didn't really understand why it was always so deserted, but that's the way she liked it.

"Look out, she's gonna grab you!" Vanellope beamed in a loud voice, cupping her hands around her mouth to make **sure** her voice carried. _Escape while you can! _She laughed.

"**Shh!**" Candlehead said with a sheepish smile and a finger over her mouth as she shot Vanellope a playful glare, "See? She's on guard now.." _I'm still gonna catch you, little Jujube! _She turned her gaze back to her target and grinned.

"Hmm, was I always this cute?" Jubileena asked, "..Say yeah." _At least put in some effort Spears. I'm no good at this kind of thing._

"Yeah?" Spears chuckled, knowing full well that there was obviously no other right answer.

"Good.." Jubileena said while smiling a bit as she watched her young counterpart make a small, futile effort to evade Candlehead, only to be caught and held in a tight hug. "Candlehead, don't crush little me okay?!"_ This place is like heaven to her right now, isn't it?_

"So where is little **me**?" Candlehead beamed while pressing her cheek against little Jubileena's. _Oh, like I'd crush anybody; I'm gentle as they come. Isn't that right little Jujube?_

"Probably with Taffyta and Rancis if I had to guess," little Jubileena said as she tried squirming out of Candlehead's arms. _I wonder why she's with big me instead of Taffyta and Rancis.._ She stopped squirming when she realized it wasn't so bad being held._ Well I guess they're probably on a date.._

"Didn't **we** always hang out together though?" Candlehead asked, furrowing her brow in confusion. _I'm finding it hard to remember right now for some reason._

"Not that I can recall. You're almost always with Taffyta and Rancis, even when we're not racing."

"Oh.. Well do you know where they are?"

"Not really. Have you checked in Diet Cola Mountain?"

"Oh you mean that bonus track is in this game too?" Candlehead beamed.

"Well it's not **finished**," little Jubileena shrugged as she rested her hands on Candlehead's arms, "We're not really supposed to go in there anyway, what with the falling mentos. But it's not really **that** dangerous. And since the 'ghost' turned out to be King Candy.."

"Ignoring the rules, eh?" Vanellope said mischievously as she and the others made their way over, "I may have to give them a bit of a scare.." _Not that I mind people going in there so much anymore._ It was a load off of their collective minds, finding out that King Candy was the 'ghost' living in Diet Cola Mountain, and that he wasn't actually the bad guy Turbo made him out to be. All the same, there were a lot of bad memories that she would like to forget._ It should be fine for me to go in there for a little while._

* * *

**Author's Note: **These scenes were originally in chapters 5, 6, and 7.


	3. The Party and Diet Cola Mountain

A bit later, outside Cafe DiCaramello.

"Should we maybe leave now?" Taffyta asked, her nerves still wracked from the pressure of knowing she instigated **whatever** was going on in the small cafe, "I mean, he might still be upset when he comes out, right?"

"Hm.. But aren't you hungry?" Rancis asked, "I think it'll probably be fine, maybe.. We'll just eat, and if they're not back by then, we can go." _She has no idea how starving I am. _His refrigerator was empty from the moment they got plugged in, and he forgot to get some actual food to stock it with. Therefore, he was running on fumes._ Besides, she shouldn't run away from apologizing to him when he comes out, since she'll just end up chasing after him to apologize later anyway when she has calmed down._

"Fine. We'll eat something first," Taffyta sighed as she leaned back and crossed her arms. _He's been right so far._

"Sorry for the wait," the waitress said, "What can we get you two?"

"A panini is fine, whatever kind," Taffyta said. She wasn't so hungry anymore though. Not after having blown her chance at making a good first impression. In her mind, it was a lighthearted joke; Nothing to be taken so seriously._ How did it turn out like this anyway? It's not like **I** knew he couldn't take a joke.. And they** did** look like they were going out. How's that **my** fault?_

"Me too," Rancis said. He didn't want to dwell on such an insignificant choice, what with his current levels of starvation. Not only that, but he also had other things on his mind. _Come on, Brain.. I'm usually better at this. I completely failed this time. _According to their backstory, he's the one Taffyta can count on to make it all better. With the way things were going however, he was beginning to feel as though he didn't deserve her in the first place. He figured he should probably do something._ Maybe I should have a talk with Jet first, just to make sure there aren't any misunderstandings.._

The waitress went inside after writing down their orders while pretending she didn't notice the overall mood of the situation.

"Now see, **that** was good," Felix said happily and somewhat loudly at their table after finishing his lemon tart and coffee. He figured that they were being too quiet. _Poor Jet.. I hope things go well for him, even though he may not actually **deserve** it. So long as he turns his life around and does good from now on, what harm could come from it?  
_

"You like anything with sugar in it, don't you?" Calhoun teased. _I guess we **are** being a little too quiet._

"Sugar wouldn't have helped that **pizza**," Felix said confidently, which made them laugh.

"So did you have anywhere else in mind?"

"Well, I don't know, there's still the matter of the party, isn't there?"

"Can't get away from it, huh?" Calhoun chuckled, "You know I don't mind."

"I'd feel bad if we didn't at least make an appearance," Felix said with a sheepish grin, "We'll just pop in, and talk a while." _That'll probably take all the rest of the night though knowin' the Nicelanders._

With that, they stood up and walked over to Rancis and Taffyta's table, with Felix following Calhoun's lead.

"We may have overheard a little," Calhoun said as she rubbed the base of her neck while resting her other hand on her hip. She figured she should just come out and say it, even though she had a feeling they didn't know she and Felix were listening in. "It's not our place to say what kind of relationship you guys have with Jet, but don't be too hard on him, alright?" _What is wrong with me? Having sympathy for him like this.. _She couldn't believe that Crumbelina, or **anyone** really, would want to date him.. It made her rather uneasy at how easily he was being accepted, but felt as though it might not actually be** that** terrible an idea for some reason all the same. After all, according to the message Set had left behind in Hero's Duty's code room, Jet likely wouldn't have even game jumped in the first place if it weren't for the high chance that Set would get himself killed by trying it alone; Not that it got him off the hook in the **slightest**. In **her** books, Jet was still somebody that needed to be watched, and needed to **earn** his second chance. How, she didn't know, but she figured that time would provide the answer. _I guess I'm just going with my gut on this one.._

"Sorry.. I know," Taffyta said while cringing slightly, "So who are you two anyway? Are you from the same game as Kohut and Loya?" She and Rancis had met those two briefly the day before at Sugar Beach, when the search for Set was in progress.

"You can call me Tamora," Calhoun said, "I'm from Hero's Duty, just like the two you mentioned." She saw no reason to put her on the 'business' end of her name.

"And **I** am her husband, Fix-It Felix Jr.," Felix said proudly with a slight bow of his head and his hand over his heart, "From the **game** Fix-It Felix Jr."

"You make a cute couple," Taffyta said with a smirk. _He's a proud little devil. I can't blame him, with a wife like her and a game named after himself.._

"Why, thank you," Felix said with a sheepish grin as he tipped his hat. _We get that a lot._ And he never tired of it.

"Can I call you Tammy instead?" Taffyta asked sheepishly, "I think it suits you.."

"If you want.." Calhoun scoffed, "Well, good luck with it." She and Felix waved a bit as they got on her cruiser and headed back to Fix-It Felix Jr. _At least nobody tries to call me Tams anymore._

"I wonder if they'll be okay," Felix said as he turned his head back in their direction and smiled while hugging Calhoun's leg. He didn't want to fall, right?

"It'll be fine," Calhoun said, "You worry too much sometimes. They'll work something out." _If not, then my gut would be wrong. And my gut isn't normally wrong._

"But jaminy," Felix said, "Jet sure is getting popular." _Even though they know what he did.. Yikes on bikes.._

"Well what do you expect?" Calhoun chuckled, "That King Candy.. He gave him such a **handsome** skin." _So he noticed it too. Maybe that's just how these kids are.._ She was suddenly reminded of how easily Vanellope forgave the other Sugar Rush racers for bullying her for 15 years.

"Ah, but nobody is as **handy** as me," Felix teased._ Tammy, you're such a tease._

* * *

Not long after, in the game Fix-It Felix Jr.

"Hey there Ralph, Vannie," Felix said cheerfully as he and Calhoun made their way over to the mountain of bricks that Ralph called home, "I'm surprised you two aren't at the party." Being an old game, the changes they had made to the place weren't permanent. Ralph was back to being homeless, with the exception of his stump. They didn't get around to rebuilding any of the other apartment buildings or anything.

"**I'm** not," Calhoun said with a peculiar smirk as she crossed her arms. _Come on Felix, you know they're going out.._

"It was a little crowded," Vannie said sheepishly as she tucked a small tuft of hair behind her ear. _What's she imagining?_ The way Vannie was acting didn't exactly do much to disprove whatever scenario had just ran through Calhoun's head. It did just the opposite, in fact.

"Sorry about that," Felix chuckled, "It's a special occasion, what with the new surge protectors and all." _It's too bad they didn't come along. They sure take their jobs seriously. I wonder if they **ever** rest.._

"Wah hah!" Mario said as he and his brother glided over in their best capes, "It's-a me! Mario!" He happened to stop by since he saw Felix on his way to the party.

"Well, heckle my Jekyll. If it isn't Mario! You're rather early," Felix said excitedly as he turned to face the Mario brothers. _Is the arcade going out of business?_

"I look-a forward to this party," Mario beamed and gave a bit of a wink, "I got-a ready **early** this-a time!"

"It was-a **my** idea," Luigi said matter-of-factly, "Every time, fashionably late. Not today. Even-a missed races in Sugar Rush yesterday."

"But the kart.. It was-a perfect, no?" Mario laughed.

"Let's-a go," Luigi nudged Mario lightly on the shoulder, "The party awaits." The brothers bowed their way out of the conversation and ran over to the apartment building and went inside with the appropriate Mario running sounds following them.

"So who were they?" Vannie laughed as she raised a brow. _They've got some accents on them.._

"That's right, you just got plugged in.." Felix beamed, "Mario and Luigi are quite famous around these parts.. They're usually late though."

"They're from Mario Kart Arcade GP. It's just across the arcade in Game Station East," Ralph said, "Litwak seems to like collecting racing games."

"Hm, yeah. He did spend a lot of time playing our game when it first got plugged in," Vannie recalled while nodding slightly. _He was pretty good too._

"Well, we don't want to keep them waiting," Felix said as he patted Ralph on the arm, "We'll see you inside."

"Right.." Ralph said as they walked away, "And that's the guy I throw bricks at." _But it's all in good fun.._

"So I've been told," Vannie laughed.

They went back to the party.

* * *

"Ah, Felix! We were wondering where you were!" Gene beamed, hardly able to contain his bemused excitement at the other guests who had arrived **before **Felix. He had been waiting for Felix to arrive the entire night, as he usually helps out around the place. Especially when there's a party going on. "Mario and Luigi are **early**, believe it or not!"

Mario and Luigi were tearing up the dance floor by themselves. Nobody wanted to get too close to their capes, which were making an ominous twirling sound.

"I know!" Felix said cheerfully as he widely, and briefly, extended his arms forward, "They were **really** excited when they stopped to talk."

"Ah, I see Ralph and his girlfriend are back," Gene said, "We were wondering where they snuck off to."

"Ralph was.." Felix started sheepishly before clearing his throat, "Just showing off East Niceland.. We should really get around to rebuilding the place." _Q*bert and the others have been patient._ Of **course **they were patient. They were homeless for **decades** before someone **finally **offered them a place to stay, after all.

"Right.." Gene said dryly, "I suppose that would be prudent." _Hardly seems necessary to skip the party for it though. _He humphed lightly and smiled. _He's a good man, always looking out for others._

"We missed you out on the dance floor earlier, Felix!" Deanna beamed in a slightly sing-song tone, "Oh, and Tamora is here. What a lovely surprise!"

"Deanna," Calhoun said with an insincere smile. She didn't much care for most of the Nicelanders, but she figured that there was no reason to step on their toes.

* * *

Vanellope snuck into Diet Cola Mountain first, and threw a rock at a hanging stack of mentos. If there's one skill other than her racing that she's proud of, it's her aim. The younger versions of Taffyta, Rancis, and Candlehead were indeed playing inside as was evidenced by their karts just inside the secret entrance.

A stack of five mentos fell into the broiling hot diet cola and caused a particularly magnificent, foamy eruption, which scared the everliving daylights out of the trio of youngsters.

As they gunned for the exit, the thought that this place may really **be **haunted crossed their minds.. That was until they ran into Vanellope who was waiting at the exit with a mischievous grin and crossed arms.

"Oh.. Hey Vanellope," little Taffyta laughed nervously. _Busted.._

"We were just.." little Rancis added. _Breaking the law._

"Ah, don't worry about it," Vanellope said dismissively as they got closer to the exit, "It's a stupid rule anyway.. We got some people that wanna see you." _This place is.. nostalgic.._ She swallowed hard as she drank it all in. The not-quite-sweltering heat, the sickeningly sweet, artificial smell of the diet cola.. She hated it already. Some thought that Vanellope loved the place, but in reality she it was just the opposite. The place was just one more reminder of her decade and a half of living as an outcast. When she was first adapting to her life as a ruler of Sugar Rush, she often had nightmares where she would 'wake up' in Diet Cola Mountain, with Ralph turning out to never have even existed, purely being the result of an extremely vivid dream. On those nights, as soon as she had woken up, she would head straight to the game Fix-It Felix Jr. to **prove** to herself that she could leave, and to **prove** to herself that her best friend really existed.

"Someone wants to see us?" little Candlehead asked curiously. _I wonder who-_

"That sounds like me~!" Candlehead beamed excitedly as she ran through the fake wall and carefully snatched 'herself' up. "Gotcha!" _So~ cute! Watch the candle though._ She giggled and carefully moved her head back a bit so that her hair wasn't as risk of catching fire.

"Well **this** is interesting," Markowski chuckled as he walked in and placed his hand back through the wall, "Feels tingly." _Bzzzt. I wonder, if I just stood in the middle.._

"Whoa!" little Candlehead beamed, though still surprised, as she hugged her older self, "Hey me?" _I'm pretty._

Spears pushed Markowski back inside before walking in himself, followed by Jubileena who had her younger counterpart in her arms in a sitting-down position.

"See? I told you they'd probably be here," little Jubileena beamed. _It's a little crowded.. I hate crowds. _She always felt a little uncomfortable around larger groups of people. It was something she had in common with her older counterpart.

"So where are **we**? I mean, the older Taffyta and I," little Rancis asked. _We ought be 'together', right?_

"They're still in our game, probably," Candlehead giggled as she placed her younger counterpart back on the ground and extended her arms, "Your turn. Come on.. And you too, Taffyta." She picked the two up simultaneously, more or less with consent. _Four down, eleven to go, judging by this game's roster. _She didn't want to hug King Candy, so he was left out of her calculations.

"So who are these guys?" little Taffyta asked with a curious smirk. _They're Tammy's lackeys, right?_

"Oh, well I'm Spears," he said as he pointed at himself, then Markowski, "and this is my friend Markowski. We're from Hero's Duty." _She forgot our names, I guess._

"So you **are** Tammy's- friends then," little Taffyta beamed. She got to know Calhoun quite well since Felix would constantly bring her there after the Turbo incident. They got off to a little bit of a rocky start, of course, considering the fact that little Taffyta and the other racers had bullied Vanellope for a decade and a half.

"Yeah, that's our Sarge," Markowski said.

"So wait, her name **isn't** 'Sarge' then?" Candlehead asked, feeling a bit embarrassed._ Well I'm glad I know __**now**__._

"That's uh.." Spears said, "That's just what we call her. It's her rank, short for sergeant."

"Oh, well that makes sense," Candlehead said. _I thought they ignored rank when the arcade is closed, but I guess not._

"So are you guys dating or something?" little Taffyta asked with a smirk. That's something she has in common with her older counterpart.

Markowski and Spears looked at each other. _How should we answer that?_

"Close enough, I guess," Jubileena said with her arms crossed. _They had it written all over their faces anyway. They were going to ask eventually, right? _She had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she might have gotten it wrong somehow, despite all of the obvious signs she picked up on.

"**What**?!" Candlehead asked in shock, "Why wasn't **I **told?! I mean.. Well it's not that I mind or anything.." Her face was burning red, more so than it was earlier. As far as her backstory was concerned, she was never was the brightest candle on the cake.. However, backstories have a tendency to be overridden after a while. _Shouldn't I have agreed to something like that? Did I forget? I'm not __**really**__ this stupid, am I?_

"Too tight.." little Rancis said in a slightly strained tone. He and little Taffyta were still in Candlehead's clutches, and it was getting a little bit hard to breath since Candlehead had absentmindedly tightened her hold on them.

"Oh, sorry," Candlehead said as she let them down. _This is gonna bother me.._

* * *

**Author's Note: **These scenes were originally in chapters 7 and 8 of 'The Honeyglow Surge'. Don't forget to favorite/follow/review if you're having a good time ;).


	4. Going Home

In the game Fix-It Felix Jr., after quite some time schmoozing.

"Ralph, brother. Mind giving me a hand?" Felix asked cheerfully, "I was thinking we could get to work on East Niceland."

Ralph was relieved to have an excuse to leave the conversation had been having with the Mario brothers for a while. They were nice guys and all, but he had had enough people-exposure to last a while. He always was a sort of private man. It's one of the reasons he stayed sane all those 30 years. The other reason being Tapper's.

"Sure thing, Felix," Ralph beamed before casting his girlfriend a knowing glance, "You're coming too, right, Vannie?" He didn't feel quite right leaving Vannie alone, especially not around the Mario brothers. Or the Nicelanders, since Mary had said things he'd rather she didn't. Mary had been honest with Vannie about what they had done to Ralph. It was in the past, and Ralph preferred that it stay that way.

"Ooh, a working man, hmm?" Vannie teased, "Count me in." _I thought he was a wrecker. I gotta see this or I'm just gonna stay confused. _She wasn't exactly sure what to expect._  
_

"It was-a nice meeting you," Luigi said cheerfully.

"We'll catch up later," Ralph said with a smile. _I don't _**_really_**_ mean that.. But if they want to talk to later I won't turn them away. _It's not like he disliked them or anything.

"See ya," Vannie said as she ran out the door, following Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun.

"What a nice-a Bad Guy," Mario said to Luigi.

"Much-a better than we thought," Luigi said to Mario.

* * *

"I owe you one," Ralph said as they went back to the mountains of bricks, pretty close to where East Niceland used to be, "Never really been one for crowds."

"So are you building another apartment or something?" Vannie beamed as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.

"A few, actually," Felix said with a smile, "Of course not all in **one** **night**." _And really, one would be enough.. _He didn't want to.. keep his neighbor's awake though.

"You're not gonna go back on your word, are ya Ralph?" Vannie asked seriously while furrowing her brow and pouting slightly. She was referring something they had discussed earlier: him moving into the castle. Ralph had agreed, though he was still a bit uncertain about the whole thing for various reasons. He was confused as to why King Candy would even allow such a thing. Even if he **was** going to live in a guest room. It was almost too good to be true in his opinion.

"No, I meant it," Ralph said as he lightly ran his fingers through his hair. _Do we really need to talk about this now? _Ralph was, again, a sort of private man. Talking about personal matters, even with his (second-) best friend Felix, was embarrassing for him. He **really** would have preferred that stay secret.. at least for a while longer.

Calhoun put the pieces together easily enough, since Ralph and Felix were about to build an apartment building, but decided not to say anything. She just stood there with a wry grin. _He's moving up in the world. _Felix, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice they even said anything.

Felix alone walked from the large mountain of bricks they had been standing by, over to an empty stretch of land, which was far from player view. "Alright, just let me grab a pie," Felix called out and sighed. He gulped and looked at the stack of pies that Mary had graciously provided for him with a twinge of disgust. It wasn't because he thought they would taste bad; They were delicious, after all. He did so simply because he had already eaten, and overeating always gave him a queasy feeling even though he could literally eat pies all day thanks to his programming.

With a swift game-like motion, Felix ate his first pie. Upon doing so, his hat began blinking several colors, which was the signal for Ralph to rapid-fire throw bricks at him while Felix quickly set them in place. A half hour later, Felix hit the building with his hammer to 'finalize' it. _Ugh. That's my limit.._ "We'll have to continue later, brother.." Felix held his hand over his stomach tightly with a pained expression on his face. _I can do this. I can **not** waste that food.._

"Well, that's **one** way to do it, I guess," Vannie said with an incredulous laugh as Felix bounded over to admire his handiwork from a better angle, "So what would happen if **Ralph** ate one of those pies?" _I'd love to see that.._

"Absolutely nothing," Ralph teased as he nudged Vannie in the side of her stomach as lightly as he could. While he could almost perfectly control his strength when it came to people **before** his game was reset, the reset had unfortunately left him with the impression that he couldn't. His memories were definitely all there, as they should be, but they weren't all fully integrated, for lack of a better way of putting it. "Tried it already. Must be something in Felix's code; Not that I'm complaining."

"So **this** is where you were!" King Candy(1) said with his all too familiar boisterous laugh. He was the King Candy from Sugar Rush, so that you're not confused. There wasn't much of a visual difference between the two. About the only visual difference was that Sugar Rush 2's King Candy was a few inches taller.

"Zombie here too!" Zombie said happily, "King Candy also here." He pointed, with a hatchet, to the King Candy from Sugar Rush 2 who was fast approaching from the direction of the Niceland apartment building. He had spent a moment observing the party.

"Hey Zombie, good to have you around," Ralph said with a smile. _And then he says.._

"Zombie just here for moral support," Zombie said with a wheezing laugh. _It's what I'm best at, my good friend. _What? You didn't expect him to be an idiot just because he spoke with broken English, did you? He was actually quite the intelligent fellow.

"Hey, Zombie!" Vannie said excitedly, "And Dad, what are you doing here? Oh, and well, **other**.. Dad?" _Should I just call him King Candy? He's still Dad.._

"Zombie glad to see you doing well," Zombie smiled. It would warm his heart if he were 'alive' in the same sense.

"Felix, we were wondering if you could help us out with something," King Candy(1) said, "You see, we were hoping to get some sort of holster for Zombie's hatchets so he.. well so he didn't have to carry them in his hands, you know?" He laughed nervously. _I hate asking favors, but it's for a good cause. Like either one of us know how to program a holster.. I've never even seen one up-close._

"That right," Zombie said, "Felix person to ask since he have holster for hammer. It make sense." _If I could rest my arms, that would be simply amazing._

"Oh, of course! I can do that for you. I'll be but a moment," Felix said cheerfully as he bounded off in the direction of his apartment room in the main Niceland building. He wasn't exactly surprised to see Zombie. He had heard a lot about him from Ralph over the past few months. Not to mention the fact that Zombie was there when Felix fixed the door to Sugar Rush's code room the day before. Over the course of a few minutes, he fashioned a belt for Zombie to holster his hatchets in with some materials he always kept around in case he ever needed them for a project of some sort. It took no time at all, really, with Felix being the handy person he is.

"Here you go, friend," Felix beamed as he returned to the others and presented Zombie with a belt of his own, "Now, it may take some getting used to.."

"**NNNNNGH**!" Zombie groaned in approval as he placed the hatchets in their new home and put the belt on, "It good! Zombie appreciate it. Take getting used to, like Felix say, but good. Zombie always wish for place to put hatchets. They** always** in way." Zombie didn't quite know what to do with his new found hand-freedom so he just crossed his arms._ Yes, this will do quite nicely._ He briefly considered posing like a superhero, since in effect he had a utility belt of sorts, but he would be far too embarrassed afterwards to actually do something like that.

"It looks good, Zombie," Ralph beamed. _Maybe fewer people will be afraid of him now?_

"The two of you make quite the excellent team," King Candy(1) laughed, "We didn't want to disturb your building." _Ingenious use of game mechanics._

"Ah, you saw that?" Ralph said sheepishly. _I'm not quite used to people watching me and Felix 'work'._ The first time they had built East Niceland, all Ralph did was move the bricks over one pile at a time, though this day's method proved to be somewhat more efficient since Felix was already where the bricks needed to be when they came flying at him.

"Zombie wish he had camera," Zombie said, "It make good photo opportunity." _If only.. Zangief and Clyde would absolutely love that. _He then went through a list of all the other Bad-Anons in his head.

"Ralph, would you mind if I had a word with you in private?" King Candy asked seriously. _Whether this is for the best or not remains to be seen, but.._

"Uh, sure.. We can talk over here," Ralph said with an especially bemused expression suddenly stretched across his face as he led King Candy away, towards his stump. _What's this about?_

They returned after a few minutes, after discussing Ralph's living accommodations. Vannie, as it turned out, had invited Ralph to stay in the castle without King Candy even knowing, though King Candy had the same idea regardless. King Candy's reasoning was more along the lines of having an easier way of keeping an eye on Ralph.. and to keep him away from living in a tree stump. It was unthinkable from his perspective.

"Nothing to worry about," Ralph said with an embarrassed smile. Vannie raised a brow at that, not exactly convinced. "So where's **Vanellope**? Haven't seen her all day oddly enough.." _She'd have normally found me by now. Is she intentionally giving me time alone with Vannie? I somehow doubt it.._

"Oh she's busy showing some new friends around Sugar Rush," King Candy(1) said cheerfully, "The older Jubileena and Candlehead, and two soldiers from Hero's Duty."

"Soldiers you say?" Calhoun asked curiously, "Oh.. Must be Markowski and Spears in that case." She blew at her hair. It was constantly getting in the way of her eyes, though she usually ignored it. _Guess they've discovered girls exist._

* * *

Back in Diet Cola Mountain, after they had spent some time getting to know each other..

"Well **Rancis **and I are going meet ourselves," little Taffyta said plainly, "You coming Candlehead?" She was talking to the younger of the two, but didn't specify.

"Umm.. I think I'll hang out with big me for a while," little Candlehead said, "Sorry."

"That's fine. Come on, Rancis," little Taffyta said as they hopped into their karts and drove off.

"She's.. **different** from the Taffyta in our game," Jubileena said. _Not quite as nice, that's for sure._

"Okay, so who's next?" Candlehead wondered aloud. In the back of her mind, the 'sort of dating' conversation was still nagging at her. _It's weird! I'll have to talk about this at some point.. Not right now though. I probably already look stupid with the outburst I had earlier.._

"Well, we could check in the town," Markowski said, "We're bound to come across the others at some point." _It's kind of impossible, but she would probably make a good mom.. Not that I want kids or anything._

"Ooh, good idea!" Candlehead beamed. _Well if I'm dating one of them, I hope it's at least Leon. Did I really forget something so important as agreeing to date someone though?_

* * *

Markowski, Spears, and both versions of Candlehead and Jubileena made their way in town. The town, which was named Schweetz, by the way, was rather large, actually. It was more like a full-fledged city.. made of candy, of course. The sidewalks and streets were all made of bricked sugar. Between the sidewalks and streets were evenly spaced sections of short, green licorice grass, with each section also having three small spearmint flavored candy trees. The buildings were a mix of various building materials ranging from bricked sugar to various chocolates, to bubblegum and mints, among others. Of course, this was on the end where all of the businesses, such as Cafe DiCaramello resided.

On the other end of town were the cul-de-sacs for the majority of the racers, with the exception of Vanellope and King Candy, of course. The streets and sidewalks were similarly designed, only the houses were all giant cupcakes, with the houses sharing the same theme as the racers who lived there. They had found Gloyd and Swizzle playing a variation on basketball outside Gloyd's halloween themed house with what looked more like a pumpkin than a basketball. They were using a makeshift hoop made out of a giant hollowed out lollipop, which had taken ages for them to make, and red licorice tied together to form the net. The two boys made no attempt to escape Candlehead when she made her intentions clear. The only ones they ever avoided were Minty Zaki and Snowanna.

They chatted for a while until Candlehead was ready to move on.

Adorabeezle, Minty Zaki, Crumbelina, and Snowanna were next. They were found talking outside Snowanna's snocone themed house. Minty Zaki and Snowanna put up a small challenge, but eventually gave up. Crumbelina and Adorabeezle on the other hand were a bit more welcoming.

"Who's left?" Jubileena asked. _Once it's out of Candlehead's system she'll calm down._

"That would be Citrusella, Torvald, Nougetsia, and Sticky," Vanellope laughed. _The recolors are always off in their group.. _She regretted the fact that the recolors weren't given their own unique looks, but it's not like they could really do anything about it since the players know them as recolors. There are limits to what you can change without it being too suspicious. Regardless of this nagging at her again, Vanellope was enjoying herself thoroughly while watching Candlehead's excitement at 'catching' racers.

The remaining racers were captured without fail outside Citrusella's blueberry themed house, where they had stayed to hang out for a short while.

"Feel better now?" Jubileena asked Candlehead with a knowing smirk as they turned and waved and the kids one last time. _It'd like to get away from as many people as possible here. Be nice, Brain.  
_

"Yep. Mission complete," Candlehead said with a satisfied smile. _That was fun._

"What about King Candy?" Vanellope asked with a knowing smirk rivaling that of Jubileena's. _Although he's not what I would call cute. Someone might disagree though, for all I know._

"No thanks, I'm good," Candlehead chuckled. _Obvious joke, but still._

"Hmm.. It's getting kind of late isn't it?" Vanellope asked. _I still want to visit Ralph, but he's probably headed for bed by now._

"Did that much time pass already?" Jubileena asked as she lightly scratched her head, "We should probably head back." _Good excuse._

"It's been fun!" Candlehead beamed as she, Jubileena, Markowski and Spears headed back to Game Station West, where their games were located. They had dropped off little Candlehead and Jubileena behind at little Candlehead's house before going.

"Would you.. like to stay over?" little Candlehead asked somewhat sheepishly. _We're apparently really good friends in the future, so.._

"Sure," little Jubileena said with a smile, "Just let me call my mom." _I don't see why not. We get along well as adults._

* * *

"Well it's about time we returned," King Candy yawned.

"See you later, Ralph," Calhoun said with a sly grin. _It's the __**only**__ thing it could be._

"You're scary," Ralph chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the base of his neck.. _How much does she know?_

"Huh? What?" Felix asked while alternating his gaze between them. _This isn't the first time something has gone over my head. _Since he's so short.

"He's coming live with Dad and I," Vannie said triumphantly while excitedly hugging Ralph from the side. _Say goodbye to the dump while you can, Ralph. I'm glad none of them seem to realize that they **just** built an **entire** apartment he could live in. It's almost too easy. Hm..  
_

"Oh! That's **wonderful**," Felix said with a sappy smile before snapping out of it and pointing at Ralph authoritatively, "Well, you'd better not come back **late** Ralph. I don't want to hear **any** excuses." He crossed his arms and put on his most serious face. _Whether you 'seal the deal' or not, you'd better be here when the arcade opens._ He got a bit rosy in the cheeks, and he couldn't help but feel slightly awkward about where his mind had just wandered.

"**Relax**," Ralph said as he scratched the back of his head, "I'll be back with time to spare." _Let's not make a scene here. This is embarrassing enough as it is. Technically I could instead live in the apartment we just built, but I won't complain about living in a castle with Vannie.._ He wondered if he was perhaps being too selfish in not bringing that fact up. It did feel, to him, as though things were moving too fast, even though he was only going to be sleeping in a guest room.

Ralph, Vannie, and King Candy finished their farewells and went home. Ralph felt especially awkward about it, but he wasn't about to complain.

"Zombie happy for Ralph," Zombie said with a smile, "Zombie go back home too. Long day. Thank again, Felix." _My words cannot properly express the magnitude of my gratitude._

"Any time, Zombie," Felix beamed.

"Well I suppose I'll excuse myself as well," King Candy(1) laughed.

The two of them went back to their games, leaving just Felix and Calhoun.

"Ralph is going to have his hands full," Felix said with a grin as he crossed his arms. _I imagine that living in a castle will be quite the culture shock for him. He could have lived in the apartment we just built though. _He just didn't want to make things more awkward by bringing it up.

"You **bet**," Calhoun said wryly. _He's practically raring to go.. _She just thought it was hilarious.

"Not like **that**," Felix said as his cheeks once again turned a shade of honeyglow. _I somehow doubt Ralph is 'ready' for that sort of thing either._

"Well, you never know," Calhoun teased, "We got on pretty quick ourselves.. How about **we** head home too?"

"Your place or mine?" Felix chuckled. _Come to think of it, we still haven't.._

"Well I wouldn't want to disturb your neighbors," Calhoun laughed. _I imagine they would be banging on the ceiling again._

"Jiminy jaminy.. Well, we **could** break in the new penthouse," Felix said with a sly grin. _I've decided that will be my new home. _It's only fitting.

"Sounds like a plan," Calhoun teased before the two made their way inside the fully furnished, oddly enough, new apartment building and up to its penthouse. It was furnished much the same way as Gene's penthouse, which was a start, in Calhoun's opinion.

"We've got the place all to ourselves for now," Felix said with a giddy laugh, "I'll tell Q*bert and the others tomorrow." He ran to the bedroom ahead of Calhoun. _Jaminy, I've been looking forward to this all day. It's so good having my memory back! _It's not like he was desperate for it. It's just that there was this odd after effect of the deed itself that formed a sort of link, a connection between both parties, that allowed the sharing of thoughts, among other things. In other words? Sex, for some reason, made two people telepathic towards each other. A good analogy would be two computers in a network that occasionally shared files.

"Careful not to trip," Calhoun called out as she casually made her way to the bedroom. _It's not like he'll start without me.._

"What took you so long?" Felix teased as he posed on the bed with his gloves and boots off as Calhoun entered the room, "I've been waiting." _Should I have put on some cheesy music to complete the atmosphere, I wonder?_

"I see **you're** raring to go," Calhoun scoffed lovingly as she crept over to him after climbing onto the bed. _I'm getting a little impatient myself._

"I can't be the only one who regretted that we couldn't do this **last** night," Felix teased, "Jaminy, talk about a rough time.." _If possible I'd have liked to reestablish our 'connection' immediately._

"Well, we get to make up for it tonight," Calhoun whispered warmly into his ear before biting it softly.

Felix giggled, "You know I'm sensitive there."

"That's the **point**," Calhoun teased as she lightly tapped his chest before pulling him into a tender kiss. _Perhaps I should have taken my armor off first.._

Felix giggled through his nose as he eased into their kiss while lovingly placing a hand on her cheek. After a moment of this he pulled himself away slowly and said, "I think we should get you out of that **armor** before going any further." He had a glint in his eyes that said he meant business. _Someday I'll get her to wear normal clothes so that we have an easier time of this.._

"I think you may be right, short stack," Calhoun chuckled.

* * *

"I feel stupid for asking.." Candlehead said worriedly as they wandered Game Station West, "I'm dating Leon, right?" She instantly wished she hadn't said anything. _They must think I'm a total idiot. _She had the strongest urge she'd ever felt to just either hide her face, or run away to a different game and change her name, yet her feet felt as if they were frozen in place. The others followed suit and stopped walking as well.

Markowski had tried to think, some time before Candlehead brought it up, about how he should handle such a situation. He didn't really come up with anything though. He was originally going to wait a while before asking her out in the first place, not wanting to ruin what was already a good thing, but this turn of events had forced his hand.. Or rather it forced his mouth._ 'If that's alright with you,' just doesn't feel right_. _Just saying, 'Yes,' would definitely be no good._ It would imply she has no choice in the matter. He sighed at his inability to string a satisfactory answer together in a timely manner while the others stood there in somewhat stunned silence.

"Well I was going to ask you out **eventually**," Markowski chuckled nervously. _I'm not completely satisfied with that.._ "but I don't want you to think that you have to go out with me just because someone said we **kind of** were." _I hope that sounded as good out loud as it did in my head. _He remembered how bad off **he** was when he was first plugged in. He often walked straight into walls while repeating the 'Hero's Mantra' in a drunken stupor until someone snapped him out of it, so he didn't really think anything of it. It's only natural for people, even game characters, to adapt to their environment over time. It just takes some longer than others. This is especially the case with 'gag' characters, or those who have bugs in their programming.

"No no! I mean.. I'd **like** that," Candlehead said frantically, "I just.. You know.. It took me by surprise earlier, and.." She shook her head. _So it wasn't really decided on yet. That makes a lot more sense.. I'm not stupid! I just sound like I am now.. _She scrunched her face in embarrassment. _I sound like a total idiot. I should just go game over. _She didn't mean that last part.

"It's alright," Markowski said in a reassuring tone, "I was worse off for like two weeks when Hero's Duty was first plugged in. Ask him." He pointed at Spears with his thumb.

"It's true," Spears laughed, "He would always walk into walls and trip over things while mumbling to himself.. Sorry man." _I shouldn't have laughed, even though it was pretty funny._

"Yeah, a little too far.. I'm just saying it's nothing to be ashamed of, and it won't be like that forever."

_He still trips over things. I'm not too sure what to make of the rest of that._ "So are **we** game?" Jubileena asked Spears while trying to smile. She wasn't quite used to things either, obviously. _If it's limited to just us four when we hang out, I should be able to handle this.. _She **really **didn't like being around a lot of people. Four was already pushing it.

"Absolutely," Spears said with a smile, "Well, I'd like that anyways."

"Good. Then same time tomorrow?" Jubileena asked with a smile. _Let's see if this works out. _She was visibly nervous about the prospect, but none of them said anything about it. She figured that if she never took this chance, she might could be miserable for the rest of her life. Not that she was **miserable**, per se. _So nerve wracking.._

"Sounds good to me," Markowski beamed. _I hope they forget what Spears said a while ago.._

"Yeah!" Candlehead said excitedly while fist pumping the air. _This will be awesome! _She was still inwardly kicking herself for making herself look stupid.

"Affirmative," Spears said. _I should probably just say yes or yeah around the girls. Affirmative is too stiff._

With that they returned to their games for the night.

* * *

**Author's Note: **These scenes were originally in chapters 9 and 10 of 'The Honeyglow Surge'. The whole "sex makes you telepathic with your lover" thing was a spur of the moment thing when I originally wrote it. I don't really feel as though I should change it though, so I won't. Besides, it's played for laughs, especially later on.


End file.
